Becoming a Child - Huancayo

Sodalitium 101: Sodalits never travel alone.

Because of this basic principle of our style, I was blessed with the (last minute) opportunity to travel to Huancayo, located in the Sierra, an overnight bus trip from Lima. Basic geography of Perú: Costa (Coast), then Sierra (highlands), then Selva (Jungle), of course starting from the coast and traveling inland.

The Sodalitium runs a school in Chincha, a little ways south of Lima, and the "mini-bàsquet" (mini-basketball) team, ages 10 to 12, advanced to this regional tournament (pretty much the highest) in Huancayo. So, a Sodalit that teaches at the school accompanied them, and I as well (because Sodalits don't travel alone, a spirit of fraternity).

View of Huancayo (half a million people) from the Zoo

So, there you have the context. On to my experience...

Huancayo. A completely different world. The main reason: no one on the trip spoke English. So really, this was my first full immersion in Perù. So many times I just wanted to turn to someone and say, "Okay, what did he say?" or, "How do I say this?" It was very difficult to accept this reality and not get frustrated. A short reflection I wrote during the trip:

I guess its a matter of humility. I can't just conquer the language (especially in a few weeks). I must humble myself like a child: Following everyone around without ever knowing exactly what's going on, asking really simple questions, always wanting to understand what the grown-ups are talking about, can't go anywhere alone, etc. 

Interestingly enough this Sunday gospel was about children. It moved me to be more proactive in conversing with the chicos (boys). The problem is that they are even harder to understand, so conversing is very tough and requires everything I have. But, if I welcome them, if I seek an encounter with them, I am seeking Christ, I am encountering Christ (as He says). I also felt called to be more attentive to the children of Huancayo. Obviously I need to realize that I too am a child in this city.

It is always difficult to see 6-12 year-olds working in the street. The was one little girl, Rosmery, who was selling snacks during the basketball game. When she got near our crowd, she routinely made her pitch. When we started cheering (for the game), her eyes lit up and she took a seat near us. She seemed very content, like she could be part of the excitement. I mean, it was a fun game, but I can't put my finger on what exactly drew her in. Perhaps she just wanted to be a child. I tried talking to her a bit, in the spirit of the gospel. She was more shy than I expected, although I imagine a 22-year-old gringo speaking bad castellano and asking you to speak slower is not that welcoming. Anyway, she talked with me for a bit and then left. Hope I didn't keep her from enjoying the game with us..

Team Stretches

I also had a cool exchange with one of the players, and the style of coaching showed through. After they won their second game, I approached one of them and said something like, "bien hecho! ganaste!" (well done, you (singular) won). He replied with something I didn't understand, so I said "Ay, despacio". He said to me, "somos equipo. Ganamos." (We are a team. We won.) Ohhhh.. I guess I need to work on my verb conjugations. But indeed, the coach had done a good job of communicating his vision to the team.

Considering my castellano is not very good, I was able to make a pretty good connection with some of the boys. I think they kind of enjoyed that I could not understand or speak very well. With that come man opportunities for small jokes, but I was also able to communicate a little bit about why I'm doing what I'm doing (I think). Ah, and it was cool that my hours of basketball drills in high school paid off as a way to connect as well...

Because they won all three of their games, they advance to national's in Lima sometime in October. One of the coaches (that I could hardly understand ever) told me (very slowly, finally) the last night we were in Huancayo that he saw that his boys were very content with having me around, and that he would like me to accompany them in Lima when the come. The only word I really knew in spanish to say was, "chévere." I really am excited about it, though I wish I could have expressed that a little better. Also, hopefully my spanish will be a little better!

The Chincha Mini-Básquet Team plus parents and me

 A few quick things a learned..

1. The organization in charge of sports in Perú does a very bad job. I experienced this first hand. For example, the tournament took place in the highlands, and half the teams were from much lower elevation. Not only does this give a huge favor to teams from the highlands, but it is dangerous for the kids to be playing this high. There were a few kids collapsing momentarily each game. The first few games they didn't even have EMT's standing by. Every time out kids were getting loaded up on oxygen. You'll notice that a lot of the players still have this band-aid look thing on their nose to help them breath better.
2. All the teams had really nice jersey's and warm up's, but the nets on the hoop were so terrible that sometimes you could tell if they made the shot or they air-balled it. I just thought that was strange...
3. The most noticeable influence of the U.S. in Huancayo is that businesses would randomly have a huge poster of a half-naked American model in front of their store (these were not even clothing stores). 
4. When a hotel in Huancayo says there will be hot water from 7 a.m. - 8 a.m., they don't mean it. 
5. Purina factories are incredibly loud, and they start shipping at 5 a.m. (and there was one right out our window). 
6. Many things about Huancayo are still very mysterious to me because even what I know was explained to me in Spanish, which who knows if I actually understood correctly. This was probably the hardest part. I now empathize better with those fighting a language barrier. 
7. You learn much quicker when you accept your inabilities/what you do not know. 
8. God will provide.

"The only petition I would have you put forward on my behalf is that I may be given sufficient inward and outward strength to be as resolute in will as in words, and a Christian in reality instead of only in repute." 
-St. Ignatius of Antioch, martyr, 107 A.D.